Fastening means for ships&#39; plates



a mm s W. MEYER FASTENING MEANS FOR SHIP PLATES v July 10, 1923.

Filed Oct. 15, 1920 C @MllllllllllllllIIIlllllllllllllllllllllllllll INVENTO MJM ORHEY Patented .l'uiy 1Q, i923.

WALDEIVIAE MEYER, O13 WOODHAVEN, NEW YORK.

FASTENING MEANS FOR SHIPStPLATES.

Application filed October 15, 1920. Serial No. 417,239.

TO (M whom z't'may concern Be it known that I, l VALDEMAR MEYER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Woodhaven, county of Queens, and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fastening Means for Ships Plates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices adapted for holding ships plates in position to be riveted although not limited to such use.

Preparatory to riveting,the plates of a ship are usually secured together by bolts of the usual screw-threaded kind which are insertedin certain of the rivet holes. The nuts being then applied and screwed home, the plates. are drawn together. Rivets are their inserted in the holes not occupied by the bolts and set. The nuts are then unscrewed, the bolts removed, rivets placed in the holes thus vacated, and set. The riveting of the plates together is thus completed.

Disadvantages of the procedure as above outlined are that the screwing up and unscrewing of the nuts is a tedious and time consuming process; further, a long arm is required on the wrench for turning the nuts so that there will be suliicient leverage by which to pull the plates tightly together which is necessary to secure a tight and secure structure, and in many situations in the constructing of a ship there is not sufiicient room to permit the swinging of a sufficiently long wrench arm; further, the threads on a large percentage of the bolts are battered at some stage of the proceeding and the bolts rendered useless. As a large percentage of the bolts employed for initially holding the plates of a ships hull together are thus destroyed by a single use and the quantity used in building a ships hull is large, the destroyed bolts represent a considerable item of expense.

One object of the present invention is to supply a fastening means which shall be readily applied and removed.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fastening means Which may be operated in a small space to forcibly draw the secured members together and also loosened to effect its removal.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fastening meanswhich shall not be liable to be injured but may ordinarily be used over and over again an indefinite number of times.

Other and ancillary objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of plates, such as those of a ships hull, with the improved fastening means in position;

Fig. 2 is a section, on an enlargedscale, through the device and plates;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the seat for th wedge, showing the recess for receiving the wedge; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the bolt.

Referring to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a bolt having a head 1 and a slot 2. This bolt may be formed by doubling upon itself a suitably formed piece as is indicated clearly in Fig. i.

Adapted to be entered within the recess in the bolt is a curved wedge 3. Placed about the bolt after the manner of a washer is a seat 4 adapted to bear against the work and to have the wedge bear upon it. The seat t has a recess 5 adapted to receive the wedge and the bottom 6 of the recess is curved so as to fit the curved side of the wedge. Also the outer end of the recess 2 should be curved so as to fit the outer side of the wedge as shown clearly in Fig. 2. In order to save metal and to reduce the area of contact with the plate, the side of the seat which is opposite the wedge is cut away at the center so as to form a concavity 7. A similar concavity 8 is formed upon the wedge side of the seat and it will be seen from Fig. 2 that the seat is thinner upon the thick side of the wedge than upon the other side. It will be observed that the wedge seating surface is closer to the work upon the side of the broad end of the wedge than upon the other side and consequently the making of the seat member thinner upon the former side renders the broad end of the seat more accessible in driving it in and removing it, and furthermore a saving of metal is accomplished bv this construction.

It will also be observed that the curved bottom 6 is an arc of a circle having its central radius perpendicular to the plane of the outer surface of the seat. This construction of the seat renders the entry of the wedge into the recess in the bolt easier and brings the wedge into a position where its end is more easily struck in operating the fastening.

It will now be seen that in order to draw the plates 9 and 10 together the bolt 1 is passed through registering holes in the plates. The seat a is then placed over the end of the bolt after the manner of awasher. The tip of the wedge is then inserted in the recess 2 in the bolt and its edge is entered within the recess 5 in the seat, the seat being so adjusted that the thin side is upon the same side of the bolt as the broad end of the .wedge. The wedge may then be thrust through the recess until the device is fairly tight when the wedge may be driven home by striking it upon its broad end with a hammer when the plates will be drawn tightly together and securely held. The device may be disassembled by loosening the wedge which may be accomplished by driving it backwardly by striking it upon its tip. The wedge having been thus loosened, it may be withdrawn from the recess in the bolt and then the seat and the bolt may be removed and used again in a similar application.

lVhile the invention has been illustrated in what is considered its best application it may have other embodiments without departiiig from its spirit and is not, therefore, limited to the structure shown in the drawings.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a bolt, of a curved wedge cooperating therewith and a member adapted to bear against the work and having a curved seat for the said wedge.

2. The combination with a bolt, of a curved wedge cooperating therewith and a seat for said wedge adapted to bear against the work and having a recess for receiving the Wedge, said recess having a curved bottom forming a bearing surface for the curved side of the wedge.

3. The combination with. a slotted bolt, of a curved wedge entered within said recess and a seat for said wedge adapted to bear against the work and having a recess for receiving the. wedge, said recess having a curved bottom forming a bearing surface for the curved side oi the wedge.

4. The combination with a bolt, of a curred wedge cooperating therewith and seat adapted to bear against the work, the said seat being thicker at one side than at the other.

5. The combination with a bolt, oi? a i:

curved. wedge cooperating therewith a seat adapted to bear against the work, the said seat being thicker at one sidethan at the other and the thin side being upon the same side of the bolt as the broad end or" the wedge.

6. The combination with a bolt, of a curved wedge cooperating therewith and a member adapted to bear against the work and having a curved seat for the said wedge, the said member being thicker upon one side than upon the other and the said seat being an are having its central raidu's at. an angle to the axis-oi the bolt.

7. The combination with a bolt, of a curved wedge cooperating therewith and a member adapted to bear against the work and having a curved seat for said wedge, the said seat being an are having its central radius at an angle to the axis of the bolt.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification this 9th day of Ocotober, 1920.

W'ALDEMAR MEYER.

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